


Degrees of Separation

by minty_stripes



Series: Across All Universes [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-02-28 02:15:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minty_stripes/pseuds/minty_stripes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which Steve is a demon, and Bucky is an angel, and all rules were made to be broken.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have no explanation for this, I just really needed an AU with demon!Steve and angel!Bucky and I had to write it myself apparently.

                Steve watches the woman throughout the day.  She drops her daughter off at daycare, does her grocery shopping, takes a taxi in town to meet a client, has lunch with a friend, picks up her daughter from daycare, and makes dinner at home in her small apartment.  She’s completely unaware of the darkness following her throughout the day, but Steve watches her carefully in everything she does.  When she settles down to sleep, he moves for the kill.  He’s reaching towards her heart, ready to pull her soul and take it with him.  There’s a sudden, bright white light and Steve moves back, twisting through the air as he looks for the source of the light.  There’s a man standing in the middle of the room, wings folding against his back as he fixes Steve with a steady glare.

“You have no right to this woman’s soul.” The angel accuses.  Steve folds himself into a solid form, a tall, muscular man with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes.  He crosses his arms and stares at the angel.

“And I suppose you and your feathery friends think you have a right to her soul?”  The angel fixes him with a heavy stare.

“That woman’s soul is her own.  She belongs to Earth, Heaven has no claim here, but neither does Hell.  Return to the depths from which you have come.”  Steve stares at the angel in disbelief.

“You’d try to banish me back to Hell for coming for the soul of one sinner?  That’s even more ridiculous than what you guys normally bother me about.”

“Demons who poke their noses where they don’t belong are asking for punishment.  You can leave the woman, or you can fight me.”  Steve looks over the angel, tall, muscular, with dark blue eyes and messy brown hair, he stands with a cocky confidence and Steve can’t help but notice that this angel looks more like a demon, and Steve looks more like an angel.  Steve licks his lips.

“Fighting you could be fun.”  The angel looks confused for a moment, then repulsed, and Steve grins.  “What’s your name anyway?”  The angel narrows his eyes suspiciously.  Steve raises his hands in defense.  “Hey, it’s an honest question.  My name is Steve.  See?  Now what’s yours?”

“James.  Now will you relinquish this soul?”  Steve shrugs and steps away from the woman.

“Sure.  You’re an attractive angel, I’ll let you have this one.”  He winks at the angel and disappears, taking back his unseen form and vanishing into the night.  James.  He’ll have to run into him again.

O.O

“You would not believe this guy Peggy, he looked more like a demon than I do!”  Peggy snorts, covering her mouth as she begins to laugh.

“That’s not exactly difficult Steve.  You tend to look like the man upstairs personally put you together.”  Steve shoots her a look, and she laughs again.  He’s known Peggy for eons.  He figures they probably qualify as best friends at this point.  Peggy is the weakness of many a human male, a curvy brunette with dark eyes and a wicked red grin that suggests she knows all of your secrets, which being a demon, she does.  They’re a team of sorts, they take turns luring humans in, and the other makes a deal, promising a wish in exchange for a soul.  Occasionally they run into angels, occasionally they fight the angels for a soul, but Steve’s never just given one up before.

“Really Peggy, this angel, fucking gorgeous.”  Peggy makes a disgusted face.  “I’m serious!” Steve protests.  “I mean they normally look so uppity and righteous, but this one, wow.  He looked like the type of demon I would’ve sold my soul to for a fuck in a back alley.”  Peggy raises one perfect eyebrow, obviously doubting Steve.  He sighs deeply.  “You’ll see.  I’m going to see him again.  That’s a promise.”

“The only promises we make end in taking someone’s soul.”

O.O

“He was so rude!  Standing around like he owns the Earth and all the souls in it, watching me with his ridiculous baby blue eyes.  I’ve never seen anyone look so angelic.”  Natasha rolls her eyes and bats James in the face with one of her wings.

“James, in case you’ve forgotten, we’re angels.  You see plenty of angelic people on a daily basis.”

“You don’t understand Nat, this demon, he looked like Father himself carved him and sent him to infiltrate Hell.  I’ve never seen anything so beautiful, and he’s a demon!”  Natasha rests her legs in James’ lap, pulling absently at a feather on one of her wings.  The pale pink feather comes off in her hand, and she leans forward to tuck it behind James’ ear.

“That’s just part of their tricks James.  They’re made of sin and temptation, of course they’re attractive.”

“We’ve both run into demons before, this one was different.  He just backed off, left the soul alone.  I’ve never seen one do that before.”  Natasha shrugs, her red curls falling around her face.  She watches James with dark eyes.

“Don’t go looking for him again.  Promise me that?”  James kisses her hand.

“I promise Nat.”

O.O

                As luck would have it, he sees the demon again later in the week.  He’s collecting the souls of some of the victims of a robbery-gone-wrong, and Steve is there, harvesting souls from the shooter and a few of the victims.

“Do you have to take them?” James asks as Steve reaches down and pulls the soul from a teenaged boy.  Steve looks over to James, the dark metallic sheen of the boy’s soul dangling from between Steve’s thumb and forefinger.  James watches as Steve slowly puts the soul in the bag he has slung over one shoulder.

“If they don’t believe in you, they come with me.” Steve finally answers.  James picks up the soul of an older woman, shining and weakly glowing blue.  He cups his hands around it and it bursts into tiny blue lights that float up to Heaven.  “Show off.” Steve comments.  James can’t help the grin that pulls at the corners of his lips.  Steve takes the last soul, an old man whose souls glows a dull, sickly green as Steve tucks it away.  He looks over to James, who should have left when he finished collecting his souls, but he stayed, sitting down on the counter and wrapping his faded red wings around himself as he watched Steve.

“You don’t look like much of a demon.” James comments.  Steve looks up at him, at his massive wings, his barely perceptible silver halo, at the way he’s dressed himself like a human, with a leather jacket and a plain tee shirt, ripped jeans and combat boots.

“You don’t look like much of an angel.” He replies.  James shakes his wings and spreads them out, showing off.  Steve scoffs and lets some of his true form seep through his human shape, large white rams horns curling from his forehead, cloven hoofs taking the place where his feet had been, a thin white tail curling through the air behind him.  James watches Steve’s tail swish back and forth through the air.  It’s unnervingly beautiful.  He wonders how he’s going to explain this to Natasha, how he’s going to convince her that Steve truly is beautiful in a way he’s never seen before.  Steve is similarly wondering how exactly he’s going to explain James’ presence and stunning form to Peggy, who will likely roll her eyes and leave to tease some poor human.  Steve takes a careful step towards James.

“May I?” He asks, gesturing towards James’ wings.  James takes a step back automatically, folding his wings against his back and Steve recoils.  Steve pretends he isn’t offended, shrugs the incident off.  “I apologize if I offended you James.” James watches Steve with a sense of muffled awe, he’s never met a demon this polite.  He doesn’t want to think about it too much, he knows that if he does, he’ll end up doubting the distinction between angels and demons.  Steve tips his head down, exposing his horns to James.  “You can touch them if you like.”  James takes a step forward carefully, reaching out with a shaking hand as he closes the distance between them.  He touches one of the horns hesitantly, feeling the ridged surface gently and staring at the coloring, at first he had thought they were simply white but now that he’s closer he sees they look like they’re made of a mixture of bone and mother-of-pearl.  Steve slowly looks up, staring right into James’ dark blue eyes.  James stares back, and slowly unfurls his wings, and wraps them around the two of them.  Steve reaches out carefully and lays a hand against the wall of soft feathers around him.  He runs his hand along the faded red feathers and James sighs.  Steve grins.  “They’re gorgeous.” Steve breathes.  James grins.

“Demons don’t usually admire my wings, just try to tear them off.”

“They must want to keep them for themselves, selfish bastards.” Steve replies.  James smiles, actually, genuinely smiles, and Steve decides that he will devote eons to finding that smile again.

O.O

“Natasha I’m telling you, it was nerve-wracking, and somehow completely calming.  It was amazing.  His horns, wow.  They were white, but then they were shining with tiny rainbows, like fractured light projected onto him.  I’m telling you, if he still had a soul, it would be bright white and filled with nothing but joy and love.  I don’t understand what happened.  He must have sold his soul for something.”  Natasha glances over at James, rolling her eyes while she preens her feathers like a vain bird.

“James you’re in love with a demon.  A demon that you _were not_ supposed to see again.”  He glares at her.

“Well you’re in love with a human.” Natasha’s head snaps up from under her wing and stares at him with fire in her eyes.

“We are not discussing this.”  James leans on her legs, looking up at her and wrapping his wings around them both in a tight hug.

“You could fall for him Nat.  I’ll look out for you both.  I’ll make sure you both come here when your lives are fulfilled.  I’ll collect you both myself.  I promise.”  Natasha shakes her head before resting her forehead against James’.

“No, no I can’t.  I want to, but I can’t.”  James kisses her forehead softly.

“Okay, I trust you.  Just know that if you ever want to, I’m here for you.”  Natasha nods, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

O.O

“You saw that fucking angel again didn’t you?” Peggy asks the second she sees Steve.  Steve shrugs and grins.

“We were collecting at the same place.  He asked me if I had to take the souls that I did.  I think he was upset, watching me take the souls of young people to Hell.”

“Of course he was upset, he’s an angel, they’ve got those bleeding hearts for humanity.”  Peggy replies, propping her feet up on Steve’s lap and inspecting her nail beds.

“Pegs, come on.  We can fight them all we like and tease them by trying to steal souls, but this James angel, please, don’t.”  Peggy fixes him with a hard stare.

“Have you got a bleeding heart for an angel?  Oh Steve darling, you can’t.”  Steve flushes red, and Peggy laughs.  “I’m sorry Steve but an _angel?_ A human, sure, maybe, but an angel, _never._ ”

“I can’t help it Peggy.  Have you ever touched an angel’s wing?”  She scoffs and shakes her head.

“Of course not.”

“He let me touch his wings.  They were,” He goes completely silent, staring off into the distance.  Peggy snaps her fingers in front of his face and Steve refocuses on Peggy. “They were amazing.  I didn’t think anything could be that soft, they were this faded, burnished red.  They were stunning.”  Peggy is watching him suspiciously now.  Without warning, she grabs Steve by the horns and pulls him to her, she inspects the surface, and then pushes Steve away, betrayal heavy in her eyes.

“You didn’t.”  Steve is blushing bright red.  “Oh my god you did.  You let an angel touch your horns.  You showed him your true form.  Steve how could you?!”  Steve can’t meet Peggy’s eyes, opting instead to stare at the ground.  Peggy is hiding her true form behind human features, but they’re close enough that he can see through it.  She’s painted her hooves bright red to match her nails, he grins at the human characteristics she’s picked up over the years.

“Peggy you can’t tell anyone, okay?  We’ve known each other for eons, I trust everything that I am and everything that I was to you, I need to know I can trust you with this too.”  Peggy hugs him tightly, their horns locking together.

“I will.  I trust you with everything, and you can trust me.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Fancy seeing you here.” Steve turns around.  James is leaning against a wall, grinning at him.  Steve smiles and waves the soul in his hand around in the air for James to see.

“Just doing my job.” Steve replies.  James watches curiously as Steve raises the soul to his lips, and swallows it whole.  James jumps up.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Steve holds up his hands.

“It’s okay James.  Peggy taught me a new trick, easier than carrying them around in a bag.”  James leans back against the wall carefully, still watching Steve suspiciously.  Steve keeps his hands raised, and James finally relaxes after a tense minute.

“Peggy?” He finally asks.  Steve smiles, not quite meeting James’ eyes.

“Yeah, Peggy.  We’ve known each other for eons.  If we were humans, I would probably call her my best friend.”  James nods.  He has a small smile on his own face.  “Do you have someone like that?” He asks.  James nods.

“Her name is Natasha.  We grew up together.”

“In Heaven?”

“Yes, in Heaven.  We’ve always been together.  I trust her more than I trust myself.”  Steve nods in understanding.  He’s been slowly walking across the room and finally reaches James, sitting down by his feet.  It’s a strange sight, a horned demon sitting calmly at the feet of a relaxed, winged angel with a glowing silver halo, the demon looking up at the angel with a small grin on his face and the angel looking down at the demon with a smile.

“What’s Peggy like?” James suddenly asks.  Steve thinks about it for a moment.

“A total bombshell.  Everything about her radiates power, she’s strong and gorgeous and knows how to get what she wants.  She’s cares so much about the ones she loves, and will do anything to protect them.  She’s very,” he pauses for a moment, “red.  She picks up a lot of human characteristics, she paints her nails red, even paints her hooves red, wears red lipstick, red tail, blood red horns, in her shapeless form, she’s completely red.”  James is listening attentively, watching the demon at his feet.  Steve looks up to James.  “What is Natasha like?”

“Also red.” James replies with a crooked grin.  Steve laughs.  “She’s fierce, powerful, just, and rational.  She loves fiercely and without control, she is only truly loyal to herself.  She cares nothing for the truth, only for how it affects different beings.  She’s got fiery red hair and a fiery wit to match it.  She parades a mask of complete indifference, and often acts as the unemotional, swift hammer of justice in questions of morality while still doubting herself.  She hides her true self away, but I get to see her.  She has pale pink wings and a rose gold halo and radiates warmth despite her best efforts to radiate cold logic.”

“Do you love her?”

“Yes.  We’ve been through everything together, and we would do anything for each other.  I love her deeply.”  Steve nods in understanding.

“Demons aren’t supposed to be afflicted by human emotions such as love, but I love Peggy very much.  We’ve done things for each other that we couldn’t do for ourselves, and I would gladly die a second time if it would benefit her.”  James is watching Steve, who is staring absently at James’ bare feet.

“You said you’ve known her for eons, how long have you been a demon?”  James knows it must be a sensitive topic, but Steve just shrugs.

“I’m not sure.  You have to understand, that the longer you’re a demon, the less of your humanity you remember.  Peggy has a theory that we lived in the time of ancient Rome.  All I know is that I sold my soul to save my mother, and Peggy sold hers to win a war.”  James has no words, he just looks down at Steve with a strange expression on his face.  “Angels don’t have stories like that, do you?  You’re just created in Heaven one day with a group of other angels, and sent out to do the big man’s work.  That’s awful.  I mean, we may not remember our lives as humans, but at least we had them.”

“What was your mother’s name?” James asks suddenly.  Steve looks up at him.

“Why?” He asks suspiciously.

“I can look for her.”  Steve’s eyes go wide and he pops into the form of a black cloud in his surprise.  James jumps back, startled, wings wrapping protectively around him.  Steve pops back into view, shaking away the black fog still hovering around his horns.

“Sarah Rogers.  Her name was Sarah Rogers.”

O.O

                Natasha is standing on the top of a hill, her hair blowing around her in the wind, watching James as he walks through the crowd of souls.  They’re different in the afterlife than they are in life, taking on the form of their happiest moment from life, glowing softly white as they talk and play with one another.  Natasha sits down in the soft grass, pulling her knees against her chest and wrapping her wings around herself.  A soul wanders near the top of the hill, and Natasha watches her carefully.  A young woman in a pale sundress, long black hair in a fishtail braid down her back.  She slowly wanders over to Natasha.

“Hello.” Natasha turns to the woman, looking up at her.

“Hello.” Natasha replies.

“You’re an angel, right?” Natasha nods, and the woman sits down next to her, folding her legs under her and facing Natasha.  “Do you get to visit Earth?” Natasha nods.

“Yes, we spend many days on Earth.”

“Could you deliver a message for me?” Natasha looks over the girl, her anxious stance and the way she is fiddling with a ring on her left hand.  Natasha finds herself nodding slowly.  The woman perks up.  “Really?  Can you tell my son and my husband that I love them?  And tell my husband to stop being angry at our son.  It’s not his fault I died.”  Natasha nods and stands up.  She can see James talking to a soul not too far away.  The woman reaches out to Natasha and Natasha flinches away.  She tries to cover it up by letting the woman hug her.  Natasha understands her need for human contact, even if Natasha isn’t exactly human.

“I’ll tell them.”  The woman leaves, and James comes walking up the hill, holding the hand of a woman in her mid-twenties, with reddish blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a kind smile.  When they reach Natasha, they stop, and James makes introductions.

“Natasha, this is Sarah Rogers, Sarah, this is my close friend Natasha.”

“Nice to meet you Natasha.” Natasha nods and shakes the woman’s hand.  She glances at James, wondering what he’s doing.  “James, you said you found my Stevie?”  Natasha fixes James with a warning stare, and he gives her an apologetic shrug.

“Yes, he can’t visit you here, but I might be able to take you down to Earth long enough to see him.” James replies.  Sarah smiles widely.

“That would be wonderful.  I’ve missed my Stevie so much.”

O.O

“So what’s the excuse today Jame-?” Steve stops, staring at James as he approaches.  James has a woman with him, he’s leading her by the hand and smiling nervously at Steve.  Steve is immediately glad that he’s in his humanoid form.

“Mom?” The woman smiles, and begins to run to Steve, pulling James along with her.  Steve wraps her up in his big arms, holding her tightly and just letting himself breathe.  After a long moment, they pull apart, but Sarah holds tightly to one of Steve’s hands.

“Oh Stevie, I’ve missed you so much.  I keep expecting to see you, but I guess you’re still here.” Steve grimaces, and turns away from his mother.  He looks down at their hands.  James is still holding onto her other hand.

“James?” James looks over at Steve.

“Yes?”

“Is there a reason you have to hold onto my mother?”

“Oh yes, I have to hold onto her while we are here.  I’m keeping her soul tethered, without me, she would be lost.”

“Stevie, your friend James here has been so kind.  I didn’t know you were friends with angels!  It’s so wonderful.”  Steve gives his mother a forced grin, looking guilty.  It’s adorable.  James immediately hates himself for thinking it’s adorable.

“Yeah, he’s, he’s great Ma.” James grins and Steve shoots him a quick scowl.

“What year is it Stevie?  You don’t look much older than the last time I saw you.”  Steve freezes, he knows what year it is, but he doesn’t know what year his mother died.  She can’t know that he sold his soul to the devil to buy her time.

“It’s nineteen forty-six Mrs. Rogers.” James jumps in quickly.  Sarah nods and kisses Steve’s hand.

“It hasn’t been long then, oh I missed you darling.” She hugs him again, pulling James so that he bumps against Steve’s side.

“I missed you too Ma.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hell week is starting, so I wanted to get this chapter posted since I probably won't be updating for a while!

James isn’t expecting it when Steve pulls him in by the jacket and kisses him hard on the mouth.  Steve pushes him away quickly, as if embarrassed, and turns away from James, tail whipping angrily around his legs as he stalks in tight circles.

“Are we going to talk about this-?”                                 

“Thank you for finding my mother.  I’ve remembered much of my life on Earth.  I can’t thank you enough.” James swallows around the lump in his throat and nods.

“I was glad to do it for you Steve.” He finally replies.  Steve turns to face him again, barely meeting his eyes and nervously twisting a ring on his right hand.

“I remember that I didn’t live eons ago, I was born in 1918, and I died in 1945, in the war.  I sold my soul for my mom to get over her pneumonia, but she died not long later of something else, I don’t think I ever knew.  I met Peggy once I was drafted, she sold her soul to win the war.  Thank you.”  He quickly hugs James before dissolving into smoke.

O.O

“I remembered everything Peggy.”  Peggy opens one eye, stares at Steve.

“Everything about what?”

“My life on Earth.” She opens the other eye and sits up abruptly.

“Tell me.” Peggy has always been convinced that they knew each other when they were alive, and that their souls found each other again in death.

“I was born in 1918, and a few years before I was drafted into the war my mother got sick.  She was really sick, and I’d heard about this part of Brooklyn where you could talk to a witch, make her a deal to get a wish granted.  So I went.  I didn’t know what it would cost me, but she needed to get better.  It turns out I made a deal with a demon, I had ten years to live and then a demon would come for my soul, but my mother would get better.  She got sick again though, just before I left, and died.  I didn’t have much time left, so I didn’t really mind going to war.  That’s where we met.  When it looked like the Allies were losing the war, I made a joke about wishing I had a soul to sell, and you took that to heart.  I don’t know how you figured out how to summon a demon, but you did, and you sold your soul for an Allied victory.  I went down not long after, and you must have lived another ten years before you died.”  There are silent tears tracking down Peggy’s cheeks.  She’s biting down on her bottom lip, her whole body shaking slightly.

“I remember.  You were so brave Steve.  You were the bravest man I ever knew.  We won the war, but you were dead.  I married Gabe, we were happy for a time, we had two children, oh god, I forgot my own children.”  Steve takes one of Peggy’s hands in his, and squeezes her fingers.  She squeezes back.  “I was killed in a car accident, ten years after I sold my soul for the Allies.  My daughter was three, and my son was only a few months old.  I forgot them.  I completely forgot them.”  Steve pulls Peggy into a tight hug, letting her bury her face in his chest and he buries his face in her curls.

“It’s okay Peggy.  It’s not your fault.”

“I’ve only been dead for sixty years Steve, you’ve been dead for seventy.  My family might still be alive.”

“Well let’s find them.”

O.O

“Was he glad to see his mother?”  James grins.

“Yeah, he was really excited.  He remembered how he lived.”  Natasha gives a rare smile.

“That’s good.”

“He kissed me.” James blurts out suddenly.  Natasha’s eyes go wide in surprise and her lips drop into a comical ‘O’.

“Oh. My. God.” James quickly clamps a hand over Natasha’s mouth and looks around quickly to make sure they’re alone.

“You can’t say that Nat.” He hisses quietly.  “Only the humans get to say that.” He pauses, eyes narrowing in suspicion.  “You’ve been hanging out with that human again.  Clint something.”

“Barton.” She supplies automatically before blushing lightly.  “He’s a military sniper.” She continues quietly.  “He’s truly remarkable James.  I, I want-” She stops, obviously having difficulty admitting what it is she wants.  James takes her hand in his.

“What do you want Natasha?”

“I want to fall for him.”  She immediately looks away from James, refusing to meet his eyes.  James squeezes her hand tightly, and she squeezes back, finally looking up at him.  There are heavy tears in her eyes.

“I’ll take care of you two.” James reassures her, pulling her against him and she lets herself begin to cry.

O.O

“What would you think of me staying here with you?”  The man looks up at Natasha.  He’s lying across the couch, head in Natasha’s lap, but the hand she’s been running through his hair has stilled.

“You want to stay with me?” He asks.  Natasha nods, watching his reaction carefully.

“I really do Clint.  I really do.”  Clint takes Natasha’s hand from his hair and kisses her wrist gently.

“Yeah, of course Tasha, don’t see why you’d want to stay with me though.  I’m a complete slob, god I’m so sorry about that Tasha, I’ll have to clean up my apartment-” He’s cut off as Natasha leans down and kisses him.

“I want to stay with you because I love you Clint.”

“I love you too Tasha.”  He sits up suddenly and turns to face her, a crooked grin on his face.  “Wanna get married?”

“What?”

“Married.  Let’s do it.  Let’s spend forever together.”  Natasha stares at him, blood draining from her face, eyes wide, frozen.

“You’re sure?”

“Hell Tasha, wanted to ask you the moment I saw you.”  Her expression softens and she leans in to kiss Clint softly.

“Please.”

O.O

“Goodbye James.”  James pulls Natasha into his arms, tucking her slight frame into his larger one.  He buries his head in her hair, breathes deeply.

“I’ll miss you Natasha.”  She pulls away slightly from him and smiles up at him, eyes shining with unshed tears.

“You can see me whenever you like, and once I die, we’ll see each other all the time.”  James laughs, a short, panicky laugh, and hugs Natasha again.

“Enjoy your human life Nat.” She stands on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss, and tucks a pale pink feather into his hair.

“Enjoy your polite demon.” James laughs, and Natasha takes a step back from him.  He watches as she unfurls her wings, and the gates of Heaven open behind her.  She walks backwards through them, watching James, and stands at the end of a cloud just outside the gates.

“Come find me on Earth, okay?”

“Promise.”

“I love you James.”

“I love you too Natasha.”  She closes her eyes, and steps back.  She falls, gaining speed as she approaches the Earth, wings catching fire and she erupts in a ball of flame.


	4. Chapter 4

“The Boss Man wants to see you.” Steve looks up from where he’s been sketching James’ wings in charcoal.  He sets the sketch pad down and stands up.

“He wants to see _me_?” Peggy nods, watching Steve with concerned eyes.

“He does, he sent a messenger down.”  Steve nods and leaves.

                Steve has only seen the Boss Man once before, when he came down to Hell.  He had personally welcomed Steve, talked about how important he was going to be to him, what an asset he would be to Hell.  He was let into the throne room and greeted by no one other than Satan himself.  He was lounging in a large throne, made of twisted chains and charred bones, back resting against one armrest, and legs swung over the other armrest.  He turns to Steve as soon as the doors close behind him.

“Steven Grant Rogers.”

“Yes Your Majesty?”

“Come forward.”  Steve steps forward and stops when he reaches the foot of the throne.  The devil in the chair swings his legs forward and stands up.  He’s nearly a foot taller than Steve and his skin is a mottled greyish-reddish-orange, rumor in Hell has it that it’s because of the way he burned up when he fell from Heaven and into Hell.  His horns curve out from his forehead, a black that seemed to drink up all the light in the room, eyes a solid, luminescent white were fixed on Steve as he walked towards him, cloven hooves clicking on the stone floor.

“I have heard rumor that an angel has fallen, I need you to find this angel, and bring them down.  I will not have anyone challenging my throne.”  Steve is stunned, no angel has fallen since Lucifer himself, he can’t even imagine the battle that could arise from this.  Hell would likely split, civil war between the old souls loyal to the old regime and newer souls ready for a new regime and new duties.  He couldn’t even imagine the casualties in Hell, the casualties in the human world, and the angels who would try to bring order back.

“Of course Your Majesty.” Lucifer lays a hand on Steve’s shoulder and looks down at him.

“Thank you Steven Rogers.  Succeed in this, and you could make a strong lieutenant.” Steve is shocked, and absolutely flattered that Satan himself has such hope in him.

“Of course Your Majesty.”  Lucifer claps him on the shoulder and walks off, Steve dismisses himself from the throne room and wanders off to find Peggy.  

He finds her in Seattle, in a small diner trying to seduce a handsome man in a tuxedo.  Steve reads into his soul, the man has just run out on his wedding, his wife was cheating on him with his brother and he couldn’t pretend not to know anymore.  Peggy had apparently smelled blood and come running.  Steve couldn’t help the fond smile he threw her before taking a seat in an empty booth and ordering a coffee and a slice of apple pie.  He’s halfway through his apple pie when he sees Peggy pull the man in for a slow kiss, the man’s eyes glaze over for a long moment, and then he leaves the diner, his soul sold and his wish granted.  Peggy wipes her mouth slowly, reapplies her red lipstick, and heads over to sit across from Steve.  She steals a bite of his pie.

“So, what did the Boss Man want?” Steve leans forward across the table to whisper to Peggy.

“Apparently there’s a new fallen angel around, he wants me to find them and take care of it.  He’s worried about this fallen angel challenging his throne, worried about rebellion.” Peggy is staring at him, wide-eyed and completely in shock.  She takes a moment, blinks slowly, and sets down her fork, leaning back in the booth.  Steve looks over his shoulder quickly, making sure no one is paying them any mind.  “He also mentioned that I might make a good lieutenant.”  Peggy claps her hands over her mouth.

“That’s fantastic Steve!  You have to find that fallen one.  You have to.”  Steve nods and takes a bite of pie.

“Luckily, I’ve got friends in high places.” Peggy kicks him under the table as she grins.

“That’s the stupidest joke in the world.”

O.O

“You haven’t heard anything about a falling angel have you?” Steve asks.  James looks up at Steve, eyebrows raised, eyes suspicious.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Just heard some rumors about an angel falling.  Curious is all.” He replies, shrugging.  James relaxes and goes back to running a hand lazily through Steve’s hair.

“Remember what I told you about my friend Natasha?” Steve nods.  “Well, she’s been in love with a human for years.  She, well, she fell.” Steve’s eyes widen in surprise, mouth dropping open slightly.

“Natasha?  Your friend Natasha?” James nods.

“She didn’t fall to Hell, she’s not the next Satan or anything, she just fell to Earth.”  Steve doesn’t know what to do.  Lucifer is counting on him to find and kill the fallen angel, but the fallen angel is James’ best friend, and no real threat to the Kingdom of Hell.  Steve shifts nervously, leaning into James’ side.

“I, I have to confess something James.” James sits up and looks over at Steve.  Steve sits up, so he’s not touching James anymore, and looks him in the eyes.  “Lucifer has tasked me with finding and killing the fallen angel, he doesn’t want a challenge to his throne, and he is looking at me to be his lieutenant if I can accomplish that.”  James jumps up, wings flaring out behind him as he backs away from Steve.

‘You would kill Natasha?!” Steve jumps up, staring him down, anger in his eyes and heart.

“Never!  I’m just letting you know what I’ve been tasked to do.  I’m not going to hurt her, I swear.  I would never hurt her James.  You love her, and I love you.” He stops, blushing completely red, and starts to dissipate into smoke.  James grabs him by the horns and kisses him.  He comes back to reality, frozen.  James’ right hand slides down into Steve’s hair and he pulls Steve closer by the horns.  Steve grabs him around the waist and pulls him tight against him, kissing James back deeply, biting at his bottom lip.  James groans, pushing Steve back, licking into his mouth and Steve practically falls over.  James grins against his lips and slams him against the wall roughly, pushing him up and Steve wraps his arms around James’ shoulders, legs wrapped around his waist.  James pushes a hand down the front of his pants and Steve moans loudly.  James pulls away with a wet, smacking sound, and grins deviously at Steve, watching his face as he pushes his hand further into Steve’s pants and wraps his hand around him.  It burns, every inch of Steve feels like he’s on fire, and he whimpers against James’ neck, falling forward against him.  James pushes him harder against the wall to keep him from falling over, and goes back to kissing him.  After what seems like eons, Steve pulls away, panting.

“James, we, we can’t.  We really can’t do this.” He moans as James grips him tighter, open mouthed and breathing fiery air into the space between them.  James grins at the flames curling from Steve’s mouth and kisses him again.

“James we really can’t do this.”

“We can pretend, goodness Steve we can pretend, just for a few hours, let’s be something other than who we really are.”

“Okay, okay, god James, okay.”  Steve pushes against James, grinding down on him.

“F-fuckk.” James stutters.  Steve kisses him.

“Dirty mouth on you, angel.” James kisses him, blushing heavily.  Steve tips his head back, groans, and James begins to suck bruises on his neck.  “Fuck, fuck, god James just fuck me already.”

O.O

“I’ve missed you so much James.” Natasha pulls him into a tight hug before opening the door wider and letting him into the apartment.  James walks in cautiously, looking around the space.  There are hints of Natasha everywhere, in the small vase of pink orchids on the windowsill and the dresses strewn around the apartment, the candles on every surface and the books littered around the armchairs and the floral quilt bundled up on the window bench.  There’s a man wrapped in the quilt, drinking a cup of cocoa and watching the skyline.  He turns around to stare at James.

“Oh, hello.  Who are you?”

“I’m James.  You must be Clint?”  The man nods and stands up, crossing the living room to shake James’ hand.

“Yeah, Clint Barton, nice to meet you.  Tasha’s told me so much about you.”

“Clint, James and I are going for drinks in town to catch up, we shouldn’t be out too late.” Clint nods and kisses Natasha quickly.

“Of course, have fun Tasha.”  She kisses him back and pulls on her jacket, grinning at him, before grabbing her purse and James’ arm and leading the way out of the apartment.

“So what’ve you been up to James?”

“Lucifer heard rumor of a fallen angel, he’s sent Steve out to find and kill that being, he’s afraid of competition for his throne.”  Natasha just stares at James, face frozen in fear.  She quickly shakes her head, looking down at the ground as they walk.

“I’m not a threat to him.  He should know that.  He fell because he refused to love humanity, and I fell because I loved humanity too much.”

“I don’t think he knows anything about the specifics, he just knows that an angel has fallen.”

“Does Steve know who fell?”  James blushes deeply and coughs.

“Well, I did tell him you had fallen, but he’s not coming for you.  He’s going to explain to his boss that you aren’t any sort of threat.’

“The Fallen One won’t accept that.  He will just send another demon after me.  Steve can’t say anything.”  James sighs.

“There’s something else.”

“What did you do this time?”

“I might have had sex with Steve.”  Natasha stops in the middle of the sidewalk, staring at James in open horror.  “It’s not a bad thing Natasha!  He loves me, I love him.  I don’t care.”

“This is bad James.” She pulls him to the edge of the sidewalk, standing outside a small shop window with a hand tight around his forearm.  “I don’t think you can understand how bad this is.”

“You fell from Heaven!” He hisses at her under his breath.  She scowls at him.  “You fell in love with a human and fell from Heaven, is it so bad that I’m in love with a demon?”

“Yes!” She hisses back.  “It’s at least a million times worse James!  Demons can’t climb out of Hell, and angels can’t fall all the way to Hell without becoming something worse than a demon.  It can’t happen James.”

“We don’t have to be the same Natasha.  Nothing has to change.”

“Demons and angels _cannot_ be together James.”

“I can fall.  He can drag me to Hell.  I don’t care what happens anymore, as long as I can have Steve.”

“You are out of your mind!  No, absolutely not.  Angels do not love demons, demons do not love angels.  It. Does. Not. Happen.”

“It’s happening so you can revise that statement Natasha.”  She punches him in the arm and groans loudly in frustration.

“James!  You have to stop this now.”  James sets his jaw and glares at Natasha.

“Absolutely not.”

O.O

“Ah fuck James.” Steve digs his fingers into James’ biceps, rocking his hips in time with James’ thrusts and moans loudly.  Above him, James bites off a curse and wraps a hand around Steve’s dick trapped between them.  “God James-”

“Fuck Steve, fuck.”  He snaps his hips sharply against Steve and they both groan loudly.

“Fuck, fuck, James, fuck, harder, oh god harder.”  James thrusts faster, the sounds of skin slapping together mixing with the heavy, deep breathing of the two.  Fire is spilling from Steve’s lips, burning James’ skin where Steve kisses him, and the chill emanating from James’ skin is frosting Steve’s skin over where he touches him.  Fire and ice were never meant to be so close, but nothing can stand in their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely cannot write slow build.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the really long wait between updates, but somehow I was even busier over break than I am during the year.

“Did you find the newly fallen angel?” Steve bows his head.

“They are not a threat.  They did not fall to Hell, they fell to Earth and became a human.  They loved a human and fell for that human, they are no threat to Hell.” Lucifer looked over Steve carefully, eyes narrowed in concentration.

“I can see that your intentions are true, I will trust you in this.  You are dismissed.” Steve leaves the throne room quickly, taking care not to look over his shoulder to see if Lucifer is watching him.  He hopes he isn’t, he fears that a light has come into his heart and that Lucifer will notice, will find out about James, and that Heaven and Hell will war once again.

                Peggy is waiting for him in that same old diner, drinking a cup of coffee in the same booth as before.  Steve slides in next to her and picks up a menu.

“How are you on finding that angel?”

“I found them.  They aren’t a threat.  The Boss Man is letting them live.” Peggy sits back in the booth, looking defeated.

“I was almost looking forward to going to war against the angels.”  Steve shakes his head at her, giving a small smile.

“There’s something else I need to tell you.  Remember that angel James?” Peggy nods.  Steve blushes a bit.  “We may have fucked.” Peggy’s eyes widen, and Steve begins to ramble.  “We may have fucked a few times.  I know it’s wrong, it’s so incredibly wrong but I love him.  Oh fuck Peggy I love him so much and I just want to be with him every second of every day.  And shit, fucking him is so good, I never would have guessed that an angel could be so great in bed, but wow.” Peggy puts a hand over his mouth, glancing around the diner.  No one is paying any attention to them.  She turns back to Steve.

“No.  You are not allowed to fuck angels, you are certainly not allowed to love angels.  This ends now.”

“I love him Pegs.”  She dissipates into smoke and is gone.  Steve sits in the booth by himself, trying to hold himself together and sipping his coffee to distract himself.  He’s known Peggy for so long, so many years together in Hell, and those few trying years on Earth.  They’ve been through so much, and Steve isn’t ready to lose Peggy, but he isn’t ready to give up on James.

O.O

“I told Natasha.” Steve nods slowly, and James continues.  “She wasn’t thrilled.  In fact, she was pretty pissed.”

“Yeah, Peggy was too.  She just vanished in the middle of the diner.  Anyone could’ve seen her.  I heard she took a really dangerous assignment right afterwards, I haven’t heard from her in over a week.”  James gives Steve a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m sorry Stevie.  I want, I want you to meet Natasha.  I think I can change her mind.”  Steve hesitates, running his fingers over the delicate veins in James’ forearm.  He finally nods.

“Yeah okay.  Anything to get her to ease up on you Bucky.” He grins, and leans up to kiss James slowly.

“Bucky?” Steve grins wider.

“Yeah, Bucky.  You don’t seem like a ‘James’ to me.”  James stops, frozen, as he feels a heat growing inside him, expanding like a burst of flame, burning up his insides.  Steve watches in horror as James’ eyes burn bright, like a star expanding in space.

“James?”

“It’s Bucky.” The flames inside him quiet to a slow burn, and he looks down at Steve calmly.  “Bucky.  You found my true name.”

“What?”

“Angels, we have a true name, and a name we are called by.  I have been James for eons, but Bucky, that, that is my true name, and you’ve found it.”

“Bucky?” A surge of warmth runs through him to hear Steve call to him.  He kisses him slowly.

“Yeah Steve?”

“Isn’t a true name that soul mate level shit?”  Bucky laughs loudly and pulls Steve in for a deeper kiss.

“Yeah, only your soul mate can find it.”

“What was your god thinking?” Bucky smirks at him, stealing another quick kiss.

“That we’d be the hottest set of soul mates this universe has ever seen.”

O.O

                Bucky is leaning against one of the pillars at the Lincoln Memorial, watching Steve talk to one of the tourists there.  He’s a muscular man with dark skin, kind eyes, and a warm, gap-toothed smile.  Steve is talking and flirting with the man, and Bucky has to stop himself from unleashing his full power on the man, Steve is only trying to talk him into making a deal after all.

“Riley right?  You can have him back you know.” The man stares at Steve, a mix of anger and longing in his eyes.  He shakes his head.

“I don’t know what freaky ass magic you’re thinking of, but Riley is dead.  He’s been dead for years.  I can’t have him back.” Steve smiles at the man.

“Sam, think about it, a handsome stranger approaches you in broad daylight, gives you an offer you can’t refuse.” Steve winks at him, and his eyes flicker completely black.  Sam takes a step back.  “It won’t cost you much, at least not in life.”

“Hell no man.  I loved Riley, but what’s dead should stay dead.”

“Being a demon’s not so bad Sam, it’s pretty fun actually.  You’ll get ten years with your Riley, then I’ll pick you up and we’ll have a nice time in Hell together.”

“No way.  I’ve come to terms with what’s happened.  I am not going to undo all that to bring Riley back, just to leave him again in ten years.”  Steve shrugs, the black in his eyes draining away to watch Sam with those piercing blue eyes Bucky has gotten so used to.  Bucky stands up, stretching his arms over his head, and walks over to the two of them.  He slings an arm over Steve’s shoulders.

“He’s not interested babe.” He tells Steve, Steve gives him a quick kiss and glances back at Sam.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“You another demon gunning for my immortal soul?” Sam asks, arms crossed over his chest and anger tinging his tone.  Bucky shakes his head, letting his eyes glow white and his wings to flicker in and then out of sight.

“Quite the opposite, Samuel.  If you’d like to see this brother-in-arms of yours, Riley, just ask.”  Sam takes a step back.

“I don’t know what sort of sick joke this is, but you two need to leave me alone.”  Bucky holds a hand out to Sam.

“Just take my hand.”

“I have got to be dreaming.” Sam closes his eyes and takes Bucky’s hand.  Steve steps back as Bucky and Sam vanish.  He sits down on one of the steps and waits.

                Nearly an hour later Bucky reappears, holding Sam’s arm, and Sam is staring into space with a satisfied, somewhat blank look on his face.  Bucky lets go of his arm but stands next to him, ready to catch him if he falls.  Steve stands up and approaches them slowly.

“You two have fun?”  Sam nods slowly.

“Holy shit.” Bucky and Steve grin.  Sam refocuses on Bucky.  “Thank you.  Really, thank you.”

“I enjoyed your company Sam, should you ever wish to see your brother-in-arms again, please call on me.”  Sam nods slowly.

“I will, thank you.”

O.O

“Natasha this is Steve, and Steve, this is Natasha.” Bucky introduces them carefully.  Natasha is glaring at Steve dangerously and looks ready to attack.  Steve is trying to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible.

“It’s nice to finally put a face with the name, I’ve heard so much about you.”  Natasha narrows her eyes at Steve.

“I’ve heard of you as well.”

“Okay let’s sit down, shall we?” Bucky suggests, pushing Steve and Natasha into the living room of Natasha’s apartment.  Clint’s out on a job, a job that Natasha isn’t supposed to know about but does anyway.

“I don’t trust him.” Natasha announces immediately.

“But I do Nat.”  Natasha frowns and shrugs.

“I don’t care James.” She answers without hesitation.

“Would it help if I showed you my true form?” Steve asks quietly.  Natasha’s eyes snap up to him.

“Yes.”

“What?” Bucky reacts quickly.  Steve stands up and a dull glow surrounds him, his horns fading into existence, tail whipping around his legs as if it’s just snapped out of another dimension, eyes flickering black, smoke trickling from his nostrils, nails curling and skin paling.  Natasha stands up from the couch and steps towards Steve, reaching out and touching his horns.  Steve’s tail wraps around Natasha’s arm and she touches it carefully, she looks up to stare at Steve’s black eyes.

“I need to see your soul Steve.”  Steve glances over at Bucky, who gives him a small nod, and Steve opens his mouth.  Tendrils of navy blue smoke curl from his mouth, the black draining from his eyes until they’re a crystalline white.  His body slumps against Bucky, who holds him up carefully, and on the floor a swirling cloud of dark blue and dark grey smoke twists and swirls and crackles like a thunderstorm.  Natasha steps into the thunderstorm and picks up small wisps of the storm.  Bucky can’t help but stare at the crackling blue and grey smoke on the floor around Natasha, but focuses on holding up Steve’s limp body.  Natasha finally nods to herself and drops the smoke, the cloud twists and flies back into Steve’s mouth and he stands up with a gasp.  Natasha turns to Bucky, and nods.

“Fine.”  She disappears into her bedroom and Steve and Bucky are left standing in the living room, staring at the closed door of the bedroom.  Steve finally turns to face Bucky.

“What was that?”

“She likes you.”


End file.
